Guwahati: Forty seven-year-old Joynal Abedin, a resident of central Assam’s Morigaon district, has already been declared a foreigner by the court.

Despite the court order, Joynal’s name has appeared in the final electoral roll published by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in January.

Not only Joynal, but his 42-year-old wife Anuwara Begum’s name also appeared in the latest voter list.

Their names have been included in the electoral roll under the Jagiroad assembly constituency in central Assam.

According to reports, the foreigners’ tribunal of Morigaon district had declared Joynal, his wife, their son Habijur Rahman and two daughters Minara Begum and Muskura Begum as illegal foreigners in 2012.

Following the foreigners’ tribunal order, Joynal had challenged it before the Gauhati High Court on two occasions. The court declared them illegal foreigners in 2017 and had directed the Assam police and administration to take necessary action against them.

Recently, the Assam government had admitted before the Supreme Court that around 70,000 declared illegal foreigners remain untraced in the state.

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The question now is whether the names of other illegal foreigners will be added to the electoral roll?

Several organisations of Assam have alleged that the names of many illegal Bangladeshi residents have been added in the electoral rolls.

While the National Register of Citizens (NRC) has been updated in Assam to identify the illegal immigrants, the names of over 40.7 lakh people were not figured in the complete draft which was published on July 30 last.

Around 2.89 crore names have appeared in the complete draft of the NRC, and 36 among those not included in the rolls have submitted their names for inclusion in the final list.

On the other hand, over 2.17 crore people of the state will exercise their franchise in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

 A top official of the Assam government said that there are around 1.20 crore people between the age group of 0-17 in the state.

Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court Upamanyu Hazarika said that a large number of illegal foreigners’ names have already been included in the electoral rolls and they had voted in the previous elections as well.

“All the 70,000 declared foreigners have found their way in the NRC and also in the electoral rolls. The political parties, who are fighting in this Lok Sabha election also, have always tried to use the illegal foreigners issue as a political tool only,” Upamanyu Hazarika said.

On the other hand, chief electoral officer of Assam, Mukesh Sahu said that the people who have been left out of the complete draft of NRC would be able to exercise their franchise in the Lok Sabha election only if their names figure in the final electoral rolls.

 It is to be mentioned that the six-year-long Assam Movement was started because of illegal migration.

In 1978, after the death of Hiralal Patwari, a by-election was held in the Mangaldoi Lok Sabha constituency to fill the seat.

 During the election process, observers noticed that the number of registered voters had grown dramatically.

All Assam Students Union (AASU) demanded that the elections be postponed till the names of foreigners were deleted from the electoral rolls.

After a six-year-long historical movement, Assam Accord was signed between the AASU, Union Government and Assam government on 15 August 1985 in the presence of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. According to the Assam Accord “foreigners who came to Assam on or after March 25, 1971, shall continue to be detected, deleted and expelled in accordance with law. Immediate and practical steps shall be taken to expel such foreigners”.

 As of January 2019, the foreigners’ tribunals in Assam have declared 1,03,764 persons as illegal foreigners while the state government has been able to deport only 29,829 persons.

According to the Assam government data, a total of 6,26,793 cases have been registered against the suspected foreigners.

The state government has deported only 130 illegal immigrants in the past three years. 13 persons were deported in 2016, 26 in 2017, 65 in 2018 and 26 in January this year.

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